By the latter part of the century, there were calls to construct a railway up the mountain to capitalise on these movements; a key advocate of the concept was the entrepreneur Bertholt Curant.

It was built by a mostly Italian workforce numbering roughly 350, while virtually all materials, including tools and living supplies, were transported via mules, which reportedly performed in excess of 6,000 trips to the various work sites during the line's construction.

In addition to the railway itself, further supporting projects were undertaken around this time; the line's summit lacked most amenities for passengers until after the turn of the century.

The hotel complex was further expanded by its owner, the Austrian State Railways, shortly after the Second World War's conclusion, and it remains an active and popular stop through to the present day.

These newer locomotives, unlike earlier units, have been designed to run on light oil instead of heavier diesel fuel, and can be operated by a single person.

[2] They are used on special heritage trains that are only run during the summer, while the bulk of the regular services are operated by the railway's oil-fired locomotives instead.

Nearest railway was the Salzkammergut-Lokalbahn Salzburg-Bad Ischl (closed in 1957), that counted a "St. Wolfgang" station in the opposite side of the lake, linked to Schafbergbahn's one with a ferry.